Karen Anne Bradley (née Howarth, born 12 March 1970) is a British Conservative Party politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2018 to 2019, and has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Staffordshire Moorlands since 2010. Bradley was appointed to the Cameron Government in 2014 as Minister of State for the Home Department. During the formation of the May Government in July 2016, she was appointed to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, where she remained until being appointed Northern Ireland Secretary in January 2018. Early life and career Bradley was born in Newcastle-under-Lyme. Her family moved to Buxton, Derbyshire and she was educated at the local comprehensive and Imperial College London, graduating with a BSc in mathematics. In 1991, Bradley joined Deloitte & Touche and became a tax manager, and after seven years she became a senior tax manager with KPMG. In 2004 she set up business as a fiscal and economic consultant before rejoining KPMG in 2007, where she remained until her election to the House of Commons. Parliamentary career Bradley unsuccessfully contested Manchester Withington at the 2005 general election, coming third to the Liberal Democrats' John Leech. Bradley was a member of the Conservative Party's A-List and was selected for Staffordshire Moorlands in July 2006. She was elected as the constituency's member of parliament at the 2010 general election. Following her election to Parliament in 2010, Bradley was a member of the Work and Pensions Select Committee between July 2010 and October 2012, the Procedure Committee between October 2011 and November 2012, and in May 2012 was elected co-secretary of the backbench 1922 Committee. In September 2012, Bradley was appointed as a junior Government whip. In December 2012, Bradley joined the Administration Committee, of which she was a member until March 2014. In February 2014, Bradley joined the Home Office as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Preventing Abuse, Exploitation and Crime. In July 2016, Bradley was appointed to the position of Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport by Prime Minister Theresa May. In late November 2016, she denied the appointment of Althea Efunshile, a former deputy chief of Arts Council England, as a non-executive director on the board of the state-owned broadcaster, Channel 4. She was criticised because Efunshile was a black female candidate while the other four candidates were all white men and